I Hear Talk

Overview

Bucks Fizz had been consistently in the public eye for three years by the end of 1983 and so decided to keep a low profile for the first half of 1984 following the low-charting performance of their last single. During this time recording sessions were held for their fourth album as well as the group embarking on a 40-date UK tour.

The group made a comeback in August with the single "Talking In Your Sleep" - a cover of a song by US band The Romantics. The single revitalised the group's career with its harder-edged rock sound and became a top twenty hit in the UK. Another single "Golden Days" (a reworking of a recent Cliff Richard song) was released in October, but failed to chart as highly. The album followed soon after and also received a tepid response, peaking at #66 - their lowest charting album to this point. A third and final single (the title track) was released in December, but coincided with a coach crash that the group suffered while on tour. Promotion for the single was limited due to this and although performed better in the charts than the previous single, it didn't restore them to their former glory.

During recording sessions for this album in early 1984, the group recorded the song "What's Love Got To Do With It" for possible inclusion. Around the same time the song was also recorded by US star, Tina Turner, who went on to have an International hit with it. The Bucks Fizz version went unreleased until 2000, when it was included as a bonus track on a CD re-release of their album, Are You Ready. The group recorded many of the tracks in Zurich. According to member Cheryl Baker, Jay Aston didn't attend these sessions, with her vocals being recorded later in the UK.

The album's sleeve featured a sepia-toned photograph of the group on the beach at Camber Sands, surrounded by a wide black border. The inside sleeve featured more shots taken at the same location. This was the group's final album both with their original record company, RCA and member Jay Aston, who quit the line-up the following year. It would be two years before the next album release.

I Hear Talk was re-released on Compact Disc in 2004 with additional bonus tracks. In 2006, alternate versions of tracks "Indebted to You", "Tears On the Ballroom Floor", "Cold War", "Breaking Me Up", "She Cries" and "Thief In the Night" were released on The Lost Masters - a collection of unreleased Bucks Fizz tracks. Two years later, a follow-up compilation gave further alternate versions of "Indebted to You", "Tears On the Ballroom Floor", "Golden Days", "Talking in Your Sleep" and "Breaking Me Up". More importantly however, the first of these albums produced an entirely new song taken from the I Hear Talk sessions - "Every Dream Has Broken". It is unknown why this song was never released, but fans of the group rate it as one of Bucks Fizz's best ever songs.

Reception and reviews

While Bucks Fizz were generally criticised in the media for producing lightweight pop music, their albums usually received favourable reviews. However, of their five studio albums, I Hear Talk seemed to gain the least recommendations. Record Mirror criticized the album by being too "safe" and claimed that Bucks Fizz were "not trying anything new here". The same magazine however said that alongside new albums by Wham!, Culture Club, Duran Duran and Frankie Goes to Hollywood it was a contender for the top 10. Reviewing their single "I Hear Talk", pop group Bananarama said that the song was their best in a long time, stating "it has something the last few singles didn't". In a Smash Hits review, Morrissey said that the song "Golden Days" was "inexcusably dim". While Number One credited "Talking in Your Sleep" as being "raunchy".

Personnel